But guess what? MSNBC had some former rethug speech writer trying to give Bush the credit for moving this along. In addition this was too soon. We should leave more troops to “protect our interests”. These mofo make me crazy!
Sorry shipmates, i woke up late and found myself in rough seas. At any rate to of the day to you stalwart TODers.

NPR was trying to give credit to the Bush Administration this morning, simply because they set the SOFA date. Personally, I think they set that date as a trap for President Obama, hoping he’d fail to get the troops out. They underestimated him. And they don’t deserve any credit for the withdrawal from a war they started illegally. It’s one thing to set a goal – it’s a separate thing to actually meet a goal. And to meet it well.

Funny how the Iraqi people don’t seem to deserve an ounce of credit for their part. It’s so condescending to even mention Bush’s name in the same sentence as anything to do with Iraq, unless it’s to outline war crimes and stupidity.

I remember at that time Obama was talking of bringing the troops home from Iraq and setting a withdrawal date for bringing them home. There was lots of push back from the GOP about how careless that would be while Obama said he intended to be as careful getting out as they were careless getting in. (I may have gotten that twisted as I tend to do from time to time.) Then after much discussion in the media mostly siding with the GOP Iraq’s leader announced they wanted the withdrawal by a certain date so Obama won his point before he was even appointed the President in 2009. I am sure the Iraqis would not have decided that without Obama having talked it up so I give him credit even though Bush agreed to it.

I feel as if we should be setting off fireworks and have a party in Times Square. A nine year nightmare concluded–Hallalujah. And God bless all those who died or were wounded physically and emotionally from this devastating fiasco George Bush imposed on Americans. He drained the treasury, sacrificed lives, undermined our country’s goodwill throughout the world and then walked away. President Barack Obama cleaned the mess and salvaged our reputation. He should be given a ticker tape parade. But instead the media and the R’s will find some stupid thing to nitpick. I wish I knew how to imbed a photo of ticker tape here, but, alas, I’m technologically challenged.

You absolutely right UT! Harry Reid has not been given the credit he deserves. Although he represents a purple state he has been very strong in supporting the President. Besides having to keep together the Democrats in the Senate has not been an easy task.

Newt is many things, but his hostility to secularism is one of the more recent and impassioned of his convictions. And it’s this drive to found the United States on explicitly religious grounds that has won him the support of so many Christianists. The checkered marital past is not as important as Gingrich’s new faith, and his new faith is less important than his defense of “Judeo-Christianity” in both America and around the world. There’s been some internal debate among evangelicals over whether to forgive Newt his past – and the consensus seems to be yes. Note why:

On the same e-mail chain, which CNN obtained from a conservative activist, prominent Atlanta preacher Richard Lee said the nation’s evangelicals needed to support Gingrich. Lee called Gingrich “the only forceful Christian candidate who can at this point be elected and cleanse the White House next November.”

…………………………..

Don’t you love that word “cleanse”? The current president is a devoted family man, devoid of any personal scandal, and a committed Christian, as his speeches and books testify to. And this must be “cleansed”? The reason is that Obama represents a more liberal and live-and-let-live version of Christianity, and believes in the separation of church and state. That’s what needs to be cleansed (assuming we are not talking bald-faced racism here).

I guess hate is a more gratifying emotion than anything else. I remember when these people HATED JFK because he was Catholic. Stay tuned. i imagine that very soon Jeremiah Wright will be revisited, et al.

The irony is that evangelicals are supposed to spread the word and call people to Christ. And here they are acting in the most repellent way possible so that any decent person would run away from them. I hope their numbers shrink drastically as the years go by. The very idea that the ethically and morally challenged Gingrich could be help up as a Christian candidate is too ironic for words. It should be the subject of farce.

Here is what I would ask this racist man pretending to be a Christian preacher: “What exactly needs to be cleansed in the White House, Mr. false preacher Richard Lee? Are you suggesting that Newt Gingrich’s behavior reflects more Christian values than President Obama’s behavior?”

I wish these people had the guts to come out and say that they don’t want a black man in the White House instead of hiding behind distorted Christianity. Some of us who are older remember how the predecessors of Richard Lee defended white supremacy and condemned Dr. King for trying to end it. I defy any one of them to tell me that they were better Christians that Dr. King. And I defy any one of them to tell me that they are better Christians than President Obama.

This kind of talk is why it is so difficult to attract people to the come to the church house because of preachers like Richard Lee. He is teaching hate. Christianity promotes the love of Christ. Yes we are to repent and turn from our sinful ways. This is why the road is broad to the way of destruction. And God will say to them I don’t know you, you worker of iniquity Richard Lee.
The GOP candidates are just void of truth. They are a bunch of dumb liars and they make me so sick of perpetrating their non sensical thoughts on the American people.
And for this country to even consider nominating newt Gingrich as a President of the USA is really telling of how hateful a minority of this country feels. Thank God the majority of us have enough common sense to not cut our nose off to spite our face.

They are on to the next topic of outrage – The administration’s decision on Plan B pill for young girls.

I just came from excoriating some “doctor” over at Old Orange who seems preoccupied with the research showing that plan B is safe and is lambasting the President and secretary Sebellius over their policy decision. As a “doctor” this professional should be much more concerned with the more profound and long-term psychological and physiological damage to young adolescent girls who are victims of rape, incest or who routinely engage in unprotected sex before the age of 17.

The Republicans have a ways to go before they chose a nominee in the 2012 Presidential race. But over the last week, American votes have started to see glimpses of what their eventual choice will be next November. First of all, you have President Obama’s speech in Osawatomie, KS. That was followed by a Republican debate in Iowa and then the 60 Minute interview with the President.

When it comes to the number one issue Americans care about…jobs and the economy, here’s what the top two Republican contenders said about that at the debate.

theo67 I notice that a lot on the right, they want to credit President Bush with every positive result/happening during PBO watch, but with every catastrophe they want to blame PBO… case in point, the economy. PBO has been in office for three years, yet the Republicans want to blame him for not fixing the economy that they wrecked during President Bush’s watch… but even though President Obama got OBL and got the troops out of Iraq, that was ALL because of President Bush. And this is all from the right wing who keep on harping on to quit talking about/blaming President Bush! :roll:

Indeed – when President Obama reminds them that Bush put the mess of the war and the economy in place, they say it’s history, and President Obama needs to leave the past in the past. But, when he takes credit for the good work done by him and his team – we have to revert back to the good old days of the Bush Administration – bumbling idiots who waved themselves into a helicopter, not even glancing behind at the hundred thousand troops they were leaving in harms way, or the millions who were unemployed because of their action/inaction. They live in La La Land.

Another audience member questioned the candidate about Santorum awarding former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky with the Angels in Adoption Award. Santorum explained that he lacked knowledge of the situation at the time and noted that the award has since been withdrawn.

In response to his explanation, the audience member asked, “So we shouldn’t trust Obama with our kids, but we can trust you?”

“I would just say that if Governor Romney would like to give back all the money he’s earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years at Bain that I would be glad to then listen to him. I’ll bet you $10, not $10,000, that he won’t take the offer.” –

–Newt Gingrich, in response to Romney’s criticism of Newt’s $1.6 million in “consulting fees” from Freddie Mac.

Newt’s in dangerous territory with that answer, since he could also be asked about giving back the millions he earned from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae while millions of families were losing their homes as he advised the mortgage giants. Mitt and Newt are cut from the same cloth.

That is what he is responding to with this quip. Romney said Newt should give that money back, so Newt said only after Mitt gives all his money back from bankrupting companies and firing workers for his personal gain.

Oh – thanks for the context. I can’t watch the videos from work, so I’m working off people’s comments. :) My assessment still stands that they’re cut from the same cloth. Both bad for America and the world.

“Gingrich told CNBC that Mitt Romney should thank him for his wealth, reports CNN. “I did the macroeconomic things necessary to make his career possible,” said Gingrich, citing his work as a “supply-sider” with Jack Kemp and Ronald Reagan. He and others “profoundly changed the entire trajectory of the American economy in the 1980s.”

So one day Newt boasts about making Romney rich and then flips a few days later and condemns Romney for how he got rich.

I am grateful that President Obama is more disciplined and less pugnacious than Newt. Newt gets a thrill out of saying what others are too judicious to say. That trait is an asset in the GOP primary and it is what will sink him in the general election campaign.

Barack Obama’s “60 Minutes” interview was a study in smooth. The more I see of this president’s calm resolve within the GOP’s maelstrom of prepubescent fits and infantile dramatics, the more impressive his emotional maturity becomes. Some take a more critical view and see it as emotional indifference, or cold detachment, or even a dreamy disconnect; to me, he merely suffers the little children, while anticipating that his fellow grownups throughout the electorate will, in the end, appreciate what’s what.

I think what it is is that the President takes the long view. He doesn’t get sucked into the nonsense because the bigger picture is what he’s working on. And you hit the nail on the head when you referred to the President’s “emotional maturity”. Such an important factor to consider. I’ve known people with brilliant intellects achieve nothing and live very unhappy lives due to a lack of emotional maturity. It’s one of the most important thing to consider when choosing the leader of a very powerful country.

As a political story, Mitt Romney’s offer of a $10,000 bet on Saturday night has a lot going for it. The story reinforces allegations that Romney is out of touch and unable to relate to middle-class anxieties; it comes at an awful time for Romney as Newt Gingrich surges; and perhaps best of all for the media, “Willard’s Wager” is amusing and easy to understand.

But as Greg Sargent noted this morning, there’s a better story that’s generated far less attention.

FEDEX is expected to ship 17M packages today. What isn’t reported is that, I believe, both UPS and FEDEX use the USPS to carry out some of their deliveries to far-flung locales. Keep the Postal Service alive, Congress!

We can do our parts by using the Post Office for some of our packages this year. And buy stamps!

The Post Office is one of the only Federal Departments mentioned by name in the US Constitution (is “Defence” the only other one?). These Repubs who have been caterwauling for years about the dreaded Post Office are quite clearly anti-Constitution then, and thereby anti-American. That’s a simple factual statement.

Yes, and the burden about coming up with retirement funds years in advance, thus destroying any break-even point (I’m not explaining that exactly) is only on the Post Office. The Republicans can’t get any political contributions from USPS, it seems. The Post Office doesn’t make a “profit,” so it’s not a person – as the other corporations are.

What a world. This is what the Founders didn’t want to see, as you mentioned.

Agreed and thanks for making that pitch! We need to support the post office and especially our local branches! I live in a somewhat rural area and am grateful our little branch office escaped the closings. I ship everything from there.

The GOP’s Libertarian Disguise Hides Their Government By Corporation Dreams

There are varying opinions concerning government’s role in Americans’ lives, and for conservatives, their constant refrain that government is too big and guilty of overreaching gives the impression that they are Libertarians in disguise. Indeed, most Republican legislators have signed on to Grover Norquist’s pledge to never raise taxes and the goal is reducing the size of the government so Mr. Norquist can “drown it in a bathtub.” Perhaps conservatives are just pushing for a laissez faire, anything goes society that benefits the wealthy elites who have resources to buy the government and replace it with a for-profit, corporation; a corporation that forces Americans to pay to live in the country.

During the Iowa Republican debate on Saturday, the topic of health care engendered remarks that the government cannot “force” Americans to buy health insurance. The participants quickly latched on to the tenthers’ state’s rights mantra, but the underlying theme is that government is taking away Americans’ ability to exercise free choice. Libertarians have long complained that government has no right imposing rules on Americans, but they never consider the chaos or ill-effects of allowing unregulated businesses to cause harm to the American people. When it comes to harming the American people, Republicans have embraced libertarian principles and have had great success convincing Americans that government regulation restrains enterprise, and if they eliminate regulations and the government, it will give Americans freedom and prosperity when the reality is it will complete the Republicans drive toward oligarchy.

Backlash Mounts Against Un-American Bigots Who Targeted All American Muslim

I don’t watch many reality TV shows, but I have really been enjoying the TV show “All-American Muslim” presently being shown on cable channel TLC.

“All-American Muslim” follows five Arab American Muslim families living every day American lives with their jobs, their businesses, their extended families, etc. I like the show because it is about “regular everyday people” doing “regular everyday things” as opposed to, for example, “Jersey Shore”, another reality TV show. As a non-Muslim, but otherwise regular person who does regular things every day, I can relate to the people on “All-American Muslim” much more than the people on “Jersey Shore”. Let me explain. I live in Detroit Michigan, which is right next door to Dearborn Michigan, the city featured in the TV show. Dearborn (and metro Detroit) is home to more people of Arab descent and more Muslims than anywhere else in the United States. By the way, the popular current mayor of Dearborn, John “Jack” O’Reilly, is an Irish-Catholic, the son of another former Dearborn mayor, and has repeatedly stated that Dearborn is not ruled by “Sharia Law”—another one of the “red meat” lies perpetrated by some in the United States. As a matter of fact, Arab Muslims in Dearborn are only about 30% of the total population of Dearborn.

But I digress. The TV show “All-American Muslim” is about regular everyday people doing regular everyday things, but the people on this show are Muslim, hence the title of the show. Part of the show shows the families going to the mosque or praying at home; one segment about one of the daughters getting married showed her sister going to the salon to have a beautiful and special hijab tied for the occasion. Because the show is about Muslims, a far-right wing organization named, ironically, the Florida Family Association, has decided that it, and it alone, can decide who can be called “American” and what kind of values are “American values”. The Florida Family Association has also decided that the TV show is not showing “American values” but instead is spouting “an Islamic agenda” that is “a danger to American liberties and traditional values”. Call me crazy, but I thought that ALL Americans were given the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”…or is it all Americans except the ones organizations like the Florida Family Association don’t like? What?!?!?

I am confused as to why you are posting pro-republican videos on these threads. One of a person in love with GWB as a leader, one of Huntsman criticizing current foreign policy, one of Romney criticizing Obama’s economic policies and now this one. ??

The links that Nin posts helps us know what animal is out there and how we combat it or them. We cannot live in a bubble and a bunch of articles and videos he posts have a nugget or nuggets of ridiculousness in them, or GOP intra-party cannibalism so it’s good to spread on twitter and other avenues to remind people of what we’re up against, and also to remind them of how lucky we and they are to have PBO in the white house; and to remind them that 2012 is around the corner and we need to fight like rabid underdogs to win the WH and Congress.

I think it’s absolutely important to know what your “enemies” are all about in order to devise plans about how to defeat them. I presume that that is why Nintendowii10 posts these idiotic Republican videos. May be it’s me, but I see nothing wrong with exposing Republican idiocy.

For
Chips moderates this blog and she will not let nothing in that will harm us. So with that understanding we must keep an open mind. Think about our President. He knows all angles. It helps him to make the best decision for the American people. Eat what you can and discard the rest. Some days you have to scroll and roll.

House Republicans said last week they’ll consider an extension of the payroll tax break, but Democrats have to accept a fairly long list of conditions. The one that got most attention was the demand that the Keystone XL pipeline be approved, but the changes to unemployment benefits are arguably the most extraordinary.

Republican officials, well aware of the jobs crisis, want to sharply reduce the length of time jobless workers can be eligible for unemployment benefits, while also requiring those who lack high-school degrees to enroll in GED programs and allowing states to impose drug-testing requirements on anyone who loses their job.

Jared Bernstein marveled at the Republican agenda.

I suspect that you, like me, agree that people should have at least a high school degree and not take drugs. But don’t the long-term unemployed have enough problems without this kind of harassment and political grandstanding?

The whole thing makes no sense. The conservative meme about UI allowing unemployed people to scoff at all the available jobs out there is belied by the fact that there are four job seekers per job opening. Under such demand constrained conditions, conservatives, including Alan Greenspan, have typically supported UI extensions. In fact, we’ve never failed to extend with the jobless rate this high.

It’s bad for families who need the money, and it’s bad for the macro economy, since they spend the money. I mean, who’d want to both hurt out-of-work families and further restrain the recovery? Why would anyone want to do that??!!

Hi rikyrah, would you mind only posting 2 or 3 paragraphs from posts on other blogs (1 or 2 if it’s a short post), I want to make sure everyone visits the linked blogs rather than just reading the posts here. Thanks a million ;-)

Josh Mandel is running against Sherrod Brown for the US Senate in Ohio. Well, sort of. Business interests from outside the state are running television ads against Brown, and Josh Mandel is giving interviews to far Right media outlets, but Josh Mandel himself is oddly absent:

Josh Mandel took several months beyond the required deadline to file his financial disclosure statement as a candidate for the U.S. Senate. He now has taken roughly as long to say no to the Akron Press Club, declining an invitation that Republicans and Democrats long have accepted, a chance to talk about his candidacy and take questions from people in the audience.
The refusal is cheeky given recent events in the emerging campaign, the state treasurer for 11 months challenging Sherrod Brown, the Democratic incumbent. Mandel has been hurling wild charges, most recently accusing Brown of siding with “fringe elements” (the Athens County commissioners?) in wanting to take care concerning oil and gas drilling in the Wayne National Forest.

I’m not too worried about the Arizona Immigration case, it can be dealt with through the retaking of the house and senate in 2012 should the Supreme Court make an unfavorable decision. I hope Justice Kagan does not recuse herself from the Health Care decision.

The Obama administration’s top climate change diplomat is taking a glass-half-full view of the political prospects for a new climate pact to replace the 1997 Kyoto protocol, which the U.S. never ratified.

The eleventh-hour deal struck Sunday at United Nations climate talks in South Africa calls for a binding emissions pact that, unlike Kyoto, would impose requirements on major developing nations like China and India (now the world’s first- and third-largest emitters, respectively).

Todd Stern, the State Department’s special climate envoy, said that’s crucial to securing political support in the U.S. From The Wall Street Journal’s report from South Africa:

The Republican governor shot host Joe Scarborough a text taking the host to task for who “Morning Joe” puts on air to discuss the Republican presidential race. The show’s guest shortly before Christie texted Scarborough was The New Yorker’s David Remnick.

Hallelujah, Bush’s War is over….or should I say Bush’s, Cheney’s, Rumsfeld’s….their war is over, no thanks to them. Remember Shock and Awe, how awful that was! In 2003 people used to watch the war on TV for entertainment….yes. Our department secretary said several times, “Well, I’m going to go home now and watch basketball and the war!” That is sick. The world and thinking people know who ended it, the Iraqis know who ended it…..the troglodytes may admit it, but I still maintain they are NOT the majority.

Why not just say Republicans in general started this horrendous Invasion and Occupation? Many of the same Repubs are still there making laws and still saying it was a good thing to do. Republicans are responsible for this horror, and President Barack Hussein Obama is responsible for ending it.

Repubs had NO intention whatsoever of following SOFA, just as they ignore so many other agreements. Stanley Ann’s son should get all the credit for the responsible return of American troops, and not only that, the incredible amount of resources available to returning vets that hasn’t been seen since the GI Bill. Yes We Can win back the House 2012!

On Tuesday, the President will conduct interviews with local television anchors from across the country about the end of the war in Iraq and the importance of ensuring that taxes don’t go up on middle-class families next year.
On Wednesday, the President and the First Lady will travel to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina where they will deliver remarks to troops. As we definitively end America’s war in Iraq this month, the President wanted to speak directly to the troops at Ft. Bragg and to members of the Armed Forces and their families everywhere. The President will speak about the enormous sacrifices and achievements of the brave Americans who served in the Iraq War, and he will speak about the extraordinary milestone of bringing the war in Iraq to an end. Like many other military installations across this nation, during the war in Iraq, service members from Ft. Bragg – and their families – have provided remarkable service to our country through their deployments to Iraq.

Newt’s Truth Quotient Craters
Due to a sudden unprecedented string of Mostly False, False, and Pants-on-Fire statements, Newt Gingrich’s Truth Quotient has plunged to a paltry 0.25. Newt hurtled past Nancy Pelosi to the downside leaving only Michelle Bachmann between him and chain emails for truthfulness. Here for the record are Gingrich’s latest falsehoods and the relevant PolitiFact.com statement ratings and links to supporting arguments.

Thank you, Mr. President and VP Biden:
I agree with the above postings that a ticker tape parade is needed. I am writing another letter and sending e-mails. TODers, join me if you like. I am so happy for the families.

Bush, Cheyney, Rumsfeld, Rice……should all spend Christmas in jail. How can these people sleep at night? And the nerve to write books!
This President and his Administration brought about a lot more than change……my eyes are W-I-D-E-O-P-E-N, now. I will do all I can to educate people, just voting is not enough. Never should there be a war that was illegal and not wanted. All of those loss lives for nothing. The media is to blame also. Thank you Mr. President for the audacity to hope!

The fact that Erin Burnett has brought this demon back on her show, the same week that President Obama is cleaning up the horrific mess of Iraq that Cheney benefited from – it’s unforgivable. The man should be in jail.